Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove, playing for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, throws to the plate during the top of the first inning of Friday’s game against Visalia at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove walks to the dugout with Quakes catcher Connor Wong before the game at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, May 10, 2019. Grove, the Dodgers’ 2nd-round pick from a year ago, is being worked back from Tommy John surgery. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove is met at the pitcher’s mound while throwing to Visalia in the top of the first at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, May 10, 2019. Grove, the Dodgers’ 2nd-round pick from a year ago, is being worked back from Tommy John surgery. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

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Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove makes the out at first against Visalia at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, May 10, 2019. Grove, the Dodgers’ 2nd-round pick from a year ago, is being worked back from Tommy John surgery. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove throws to Visalia in the top of the first at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, May 10, 2019. Grove, the Dodgers’ 2nd-round pick from a year ago, is being worked back from Tommy John surgery. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove throws to Visalia in the top of the first at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, May 10, 2019. Grove, the Dodgers’ 2nd-round pick from a year ago, is being worked back from Tommy John surgery. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove throws to Visalia in the top of the first at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, May 10, 2019. Grove, the Dodgers’ 2nd-round pick from a year ago, is being worked back from Tommy John surgery. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove pauses in between pitches at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, May 10, 2019. Grove, the Dodgers’ 2nd-round pick from a year ago, is being worked back from Tommy John surgery. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove meets with Quakes catcher Connor Wong at the pitcher’s mound in the top of the first at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, May 10, 2019. Grove, the Dodgers’ 2nd-round pick from a year ago, is being worked back from Tommy John surgery. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove leaves the pitcher’s mound after throwing to Visalia in the top of the first at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, May 10, 2019. Grove, the Dodgers’ 2nd-round pick from a year ago, is being worked back from Tommy John surgery. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove (23) high-fives fellow players before the game at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, May 10, 2019. Grove, the Dodgers’ 2nd-round pick from a year ago, is being worked back from Tommy John surgery. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

RANCHO CUCAMONGA — Dodgers pitching prospect Michael Grove comes from a good family with athletic genes. His older sister, Ashley, ran track and played soccer in high school. Before he separated himself as a baseball player at Wheeling (W.V.) Park High School, Grove played hockey and football. In college, he was a diligent enough student in three years to come within a semester of completing an undergraduate degree in finance from the University of West Virginia.

By June 2018, Grove had done everything he could to earn a high selection in the Major League Baseball draft – except pitch.

Now, two years after Tommy John surgery abruptly ended his collegiate career, Grove is just beginning to show the Dodgers whether their latest draft gamble paid off.

Grove’s most recent appearance came last Friday for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga. Like the five starts that came before it, this one was short. The 6-foot-3 right-hander recorded only two outs against the Visalia Rawhide and was charged with four runs. His 29 pitches fell one short of his limit. If the box score was any measure of Grove’s progress, this one might have been discouraging.

Box scores are the farthest thing from Grove’s mind right now.

“Really for me, it’s just about how I feel,” he said. “Obviously results are what they are. I want to perform well, too. I want to get consistent, keep climbing as far as my stuff goes, keep getting everything back to normal. When everything feels great, that’s when you don’t have to think about it anymore. That’s when you just have to go out there and compete, not have to worry about that stuff. That’s the point I want to get to.”

To get him there, the Dodgers are measuring everything that can be measured.

Grove’s outings are limited to 50 pitches total, and no more than 30 in an inning. He completed three innings in his debut with Rancho Cucamonga on April 8, but he hasn’t thrown more than 2-1/3 in an outing since. His six starts have lasted a total of 10-1/3 innings. His fastball velocity – regularly in the 93-96 range in college – is closer to the 91-94 range now, Grove said.

During a Sunday bullpen session, Quakes pitching coach Connor McGuiness monitored Grove’s work in real time while an Edgertronic camera captured every movement frame-by-frame. The Dodgers will use feedback from the camera, the coach, and Grove himself to gauge his progress.

“It’s a good thing I have all the numbers that the Dodgers provide us with,” Grove said. “Offspeed pitches are the last thing to come back. Fastball feels great. Got a little bit of a new delivery going on. Just working on breaking ball spin. I’m still working on a changeup. Just trying to craft it, I guess. A little raw right now.”

The Dodgers tabbed Grove with their second-round selection, 68th overall, in last June’s amateur draft. They went more than $300,000 over slot to secure him with a $1,229,500 bonus. When first-round pick J.T. Ginn opted to attend Mississippi State rather than accept the Dodgers’ $2.4 million offer, Grove became the Dodgers’ highest pick from the draft class to sign.

For Grove’s part, it wasn’t clear until draft day that he would turn pro. Jonah Rosenthal, the Dodgers’ West Virginia area scout, had filed reports on Grove in 2016 and 2017. Though his 2018 season was wiped out due to his Tommy John rehab, Grove was throwing bullpens at “70, 80 percent” during last year’s Big 12 Tournament.

Several scouts attended those bullpens, but Rosenthal wasn’t among them. Grove wasn’t sure what to expect on draft day. He didn’t get any official word from the Dodgers before he saw his name called on television.

“I knew it was going to have to be early (in the draft) for me to actually sign,” Grove said. “That happened. That kind of put me in a bind. I ended up doing it and haven’t really looked back since.”

It’s unusual for a pitcher to go directly from the Big 12, to minor league spring training, then to the California League with no waypoints in between. But the Dodgers are more comfortable with college Tommy John patients than any organization. They’ve reportedly drafted 26 of them into the organization, six more than any other team.

Will Rhymes, the Dodgers’ director of player development, believes Grove has the athleticism and competitiveness to adapt to his new surroundings.

“It was a bit of an aggressive push from where he was,” Rhymes said of Grove, “but I think you’ll see as it plays out how ready he is to be a professional.”

Grove hadn’t pitched for 10 days before his start against Visalia last Friday. That was by design; occasionally Grove will skip a start to keep his innings total in check. Even though the California League is three steps away from the majors, this is the opposite of the fast track to the big leagues.

The plan is just fine by Grove, who was eager to pitch anywhere after two years of rehabilitation.

“It feels great to not really worry about health as much,” he said, “to get back into it every day, stretch with the team, practice with the team, and just do my throwing drill. Nobody’s asking me how I feel today. It’s nice to just feel like a normal player again.”

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